Research interests

Health economics, Applied microeconomics

Publications on peer-reviewed journals

• “Vaccination and risky behaviors: evidence from the hepatitis B vaccination campaign in China” (with Chen Huang, Cong Li, and Ruofei Xu). Journal of Population Economics, (2023), 36, 2549–2580.

• “Unemployment Benefits, Food Insecurity, and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Spending” (with Chen Huang and Wei Fu). American Journal of Agricultural Economics, (2023), 105(2), 479-502.

• “Impact of vaping restrictions in public places on smoking and vaping in the United States—evidence using a difference‐in‐differences approach ” (with Kai-Wen Cheng, Michael Pesko, David Levy, Geoffrey Fong, and Michael K. Cummings). Addiction, (2023), 118(1), 160-166.

• “Quantifying Brand Loyalty: Evidence from the Cigarette Market” (with Phil DeCicca, Don Kenkel and Jason Somerville), Journal of Health Economics, (2021), 79, 102512.

• “Long-Term Effects of Early-Life Exposure to Tropical Cyclones” (with Youhong Lin and Peng Xu), China Economic Review,(2021), 69, 101662.

• “The Impact of Minimum Wage Increases on Cigarette Smoking” (with Chen Huang and Shijun You), Health Economics,(2021), 30(9), 2063-2091.

• “Effects of Drought on Infant Mortality in China” (with Youhong Lin and Peng Xu), Health Economics, (2021), 30(2), 248-269.

• “Medicaid Coverage and Use of Nicotine Replacement Treatment” (with Lianlian Lei), Economics and Human Biology, (2021), 40, 100938.

• “Indoor Air Quality and Health: Empirical Evidence from Fluoride Pollution in China” (with Youhong Lin), China Economic Review, (2020), 63, 101282. 

• “One-child policy and childhood obesity” (with Jie Zhang and Peng Xu), China Economic Review, (2020), 59, 100938. 

• “Unemployment Insurance and Cigarette Smoking” (with Wei Fu), Journal of Health Economics, (2019), 63:34-51.

• “Labor Migration and Health of Left-behind Children in China” (with Lianlian Lei and Elaine Hill), Journal of Development Studies, (2018), 54(1):93-110.

• “The Effects of Workplace Clean Indoor Air Law Coverage on Workers’ Smoking-Related Outcomes” (with Kai-Wen Cheng, MariaElena Gonzalez, and Stanton Glantz), Health Economics, (2017), 26(2):226–242.

• “Retrospective and Prospective Benefit-Cost Analysis of US Anti-Smoking Policies” (with Lawrence Jin, Don Kenkel, and Hua Wang), Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, (2015), 6(1):154–186.

• “Reservation Prices: An Economic Analysis of Cigarette Purchases on Indian Reservations” (with Phil DeCicca and Don Kenkel), National Tax Journal, (2015), 68(1):93-118.

• “Excise Tax Avoidance: The Case of State Cigarette Taxes” (with Phil DeCicca and Don Kenkel), Journal of Health Economics, (2013), 32(6):1130-1141.

• “Who Pays Cigarette Taxes? The Impact of Consumer Price Search” (with Phil DeCicca and Don Kenkel), Review of Economics and Statistics (2013), 95(2):516-529.

• “Maternal Employment and Childhood Obesity: A Search for Mechanisms in Time Use Data” (with John Cawley), Economics and Human Biology (2012),10(4):352-364.

• “Quit Attempts and Intention to Quit Cigarette Smoking among Medicaid Recipients in the United States“, Public Health (2010), 124(10):553-558.

• “Reduced Smoking and Rising Obesity: Does Smoking Restriction in Workplace Matter?” (with Ning Zhang, Kai-Wen Cheng, and Hua Wang), Economics Letters (2010), 108(3):249-252.

• “Cutting through the Smoke: Separating the Effect of Price on Smoking Initiation, Relapse and Cessation” Applied Economics (2010), 42(23): 2921-2939.

• “An Analysis of Life-Course Smoking Behavior in China” (with Don Kenkel and Dean Lillard), Health Economics (2009), 18(S2): S147–S156.

• “Correlates of State Legislative Action to Address Childhood Obesity” (with John Cawley), Obesity (2008), 16(1): 162–167.

Working papers

• “COVID-19 and Health Inequality: Evidence from Risky Behaviors” (with Chen Huang, Cong Li, Sijie Wei, and Ruofei Xu).

• “Excise Tax and the Take-Up of Public Health Insurance: Evidence from Cigarette Tax Hikes” (with Chen Huang, and Wei Fu).

• “Typhoon and Migration: Empirical Evidence from China” (with Youhong Lin and Peng Xu).

• “Adult Children’s Human Capital Accumulation and Parents’ Risky Behaviors: Evidence from the Higher Education Expansion in China” (with Cong Li, Linlin Wu, and Ruofei Xu).